


Oneshots

by ForeverSecrets



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-24 00:20:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20017177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForeverSecrets/pseuds/ForeverSecrets
Summary: All my one-shots placed in one story





	1. Fade Away

**Author's Note:**

> All he wanted was to fall in love with someone who was not predetermined to be the love of his life.

_"Where is he?" her voice was small and broken like she already knew the answer._

_"He's gone." Jeremy was blunt about it but he knew she appreciated the truth without the runaround._

_"He isn't coming back, is he?" tears were silently streaking down her face. She'd finally gotten him to confess his feelings and forget his concerns for her safety and now he was gone. Running away like a coward, the man who grinned down barrels of a gun was too afraid to love anyone._

_"I don't know," Jeremy confessed. "He's had girlfriends before, some of them in this line of work but something's different this time."_

That was six months ago and the pain was still consuming me the way it had when I'd woken up alone that night. He'd told me he loved me but the true weight of the weight of his words hadn't hit him until after we'd had sex. Cuddling in the afterglow is when we discovered twin tattoos under our left breast of a skull. We were soulmates, that had just proved his love to me but it had made him freeze.

I shouldn't have let him coax me to sleep! If I'd only stayed awake to talk him through his inner turmoil maybe I wouldn't be so broken. 

"Claire?" I heard a feminine voice from the doorway. I looked over to see Kat sadly looking over the piles of blankets that was me. 

"No" was all I said as I rolled to the other side.

Days like this I couldn't get out of bed, the aching in my bones and the searing pain that resonated in one specific spot told Ryan had hurt. He was killing us, physically and mentally, if not for the Dooley's I'd probably be dead by now. When I'd discovered his absence I'd been a mess, Jeremy held me through all my tears and promised never to leave. He was Ryan's best friend but now he was vital to my continued existence.

I felt the covers behind me rise and Kat crawled in behind me, becoming my big spoon. Moments like this when one of the Dooley's held me-I could pretend I wasn't fractured but whole and loved by the one created to love me.

"Where?" she asked.

"My hip, I think he was stabbed. It feels different than a gunshot wound." 

She signed and adjusted us so that she could hold me closer with less discomfort. The Dooley's knew me better than anyone else, but they couldn't comprehend the emotional pain my marked caused over Ryan's absence. They had each other since they were kids, they never had to make do with being separated. It made me wonder how Ryan was dealing with the separation.

"Come on," Kat said softly getting out of bed. "We need to get some food in you."

"Later, it hurts to walk."

I could feel the sad look Kat gave me before she left the room. I completely burrowed under the blanket and cried myself to sleep. 

"We need to find him, we can't let her die from a broken heart. She always wanted a quick death." Jack whispered from the corner of the room.

"What else can we do?" Jeremy asked. "We've been looking for half a year now."

"We could cash in a favor from Meg," Gavin suggested.

"No, we need that for intel on the drug ring circling our territories," Geoff said.

"What's more important? Our friend's health or some stupid kids?" Jeremy snapped.

Their concern for me only made me feel worse. I slowly pushed the covers off and gave them a smile.

"I'm fine, promise." I left the room as fast as I could and hid in the bathroom. I lifted my nightgown to look at my unblemished hip and noticed something else. A horrified, broken scream ripped from my throat, I couldn’t hear the scream but I felt it vibrating painfully in my throat as I stared at my fading soulmate mark. 

I didn’t hear the others run in, didn’t hear what they said, just stared at the grey mark that was once a deep black. When I finally tore my eyes away from the mark it was to look in the mirror at my horror-stricken face. Hands eventually pulled my gaze away and I was forced to look deeply into Jeremy’s eyes as he tried to break me out of my fear. 

“We are going to find him,” Jeremy promised.

“You don’t understand! He was badly hurt last night, my body still aches all over from the damages. The mark isn’t fading because I’m dying, it's fading because he is.” 

“Meg, its Geoff I need to call in that favor ….”

  
  


They were afraid to leave me alone after discovering my mark was fading, didn’t make a difference if it was me or Ryan who was dying they refused to leave me be. I spent all my time in a sports bra and shorts staring at the mark, it acted as the ticking time clock of Ryan’s life and I knew if he went I wouldn’t be far behind. I was reassured that Meg was helping out with finding him if anyone could coax Ryan home it would be Meg and Jeremy. 

“I brought pizza!” Gavin announced loudly as he walked into my bedroom at the Dooley’s house. I didn’t move, just brought my legs closer to my chest. 

“I’m not hungry Gavin.” I didn’t recognize my voice, it was hoarse, like a smoker. 

“You haven’t eaten in three days.” Gavin sat at the foot of the bed, concern in his eyes. 

“That’s not true, Kat made me pancakes yesterday.” 

“You threw them up.”

“But I ate,” I wrapped my arms around my legs. “I can’t eat, every time I do I vomit fifteen minutes later.” 

“Shouldn’t be much longer now, Meg found him several hours ago. They just got to patch him up and bring him home.”

“Even if he does …” I didn’t really want to go into it with Gavin but I was at a lack of options currently. “After everything, he's put me through I don’t see how we can ever be together now.”

“Your soulmates, you’ll figure it out.”

“That’s the problem, Gav! Ryan had fully confessed to loving me but the moment he realized we were soulmates he ran away!”

"Soulmates can be intimidating."

"Before the mark he was willing! Are you telling me he was lying just so I'd have sex with him?"

"No, Ryan has never struck me as that sort. I'm just saying that knowing Ryan-the moment he saw the mark he was probably overwhelmed with guilt. He'd already cared for you, but to know you could feel his pain every time he got hurt?"

"In our line of work, someone is always getting hurt."

"But it's their fault. It took Jack and Geoff a while to get past this. There is a reason most of the crew's soulmates are in intelligence instead of the field."

"To minimize damage," I thought for a moment. "Poor Meg! You're always getting hurt!"

We shared a laugh but he didn't force me to eat. He got comfortable sitting beside me on the bed, just keeping me company as I tried to fall asleep. Sleep was the only time I felt no pain, one way or the other. When I forced myself into sleep, I didn’t realize I wouldn’t wake up the same. 

_“This is your fault!” Jeremy’s voice raged and I heard a rough thud against the wall. I didn’t fully understand what was happening so I opened my eyes and what I was Jeremy had Ryan pinned to a wall, his fist reared back to punch him._

_“Stop!” I screamed and jumped up from the bed, lurching towards Jeremy to stop him but my hands went right through him. I paused in terror as I looked down at myself, I looked fine._

_“You know what happens when soulmates are separated!” Jeremy screamed and pointed back at the bed. I turned to look at the bed and saw myself lying there._

_My eyes were sunken in with a dark shadow surrounding them, my body was thinner than I remembered and I was hooked up to some medical machines. I was no medic but all my vital signs seemed to be fine. What was happening to me that I was literally having an out of body experience? Surely this had to be a dream._

_“Not always! I thought she was strong enough on her own!” Ryan shouted back enraged. I rounded on him to defend myself but if they hadn’t heard me the first time they were going to hear me now. Looking at his face I could tell it was false anger, the emotion overwhelming him was guilt and shame._

_“If you’d just stayed here she wouldn’t be in a coma!” Jeremy’s voice cracked and I studied him. He looked broken and pissed which was not a good combination for Ryan who was still recovering. Recovering! I looked down to the wound in the hip, I could see the creases in his shirt from where the bandages were but other than he seemed fully recovered._

_“You love her?” Ryan accused and I glared at him, Jeremy had married his soulmate. It couldn’t be possible for him to love me._

_“Of course I do! She’s my best friend.”_

_“Since when?”_

_“Since you abandoned both of us!” Jeremy closed his eyes and released Ryan. “Since you left, Kat and I have taken care of her but I never thought …”_

_“She ends up in a coma,” Ryan said sadly. “Neither did I.”_

_A coma? How had I ended up in a coma? I remember falling asleep on Gavin’s shoulder and then he tried to wake me. I remember Gavin screaming and crying and calling an ambulance. I remember Kat collapsing to her knees as Jeremy held her and promised I’d be okay, that they would bring Ryan home and I’d recover. I remember Geoff handcuffing Ryan to my hospital bed and forcing Ryan to stare at my lifeless body as Geoff lectured him with all the passion of a father losing his child. I remembered Jack and Micheal berating him and forcing him to sit absolutely alone with me for hours hoping to hurt him and save me._

_“I’m sorry.” I snapped out of my memories and took in the room. Jeremy had left but Ryan had simply sat on the hospital bed and grasped my hand in his. “I loved you and I thought that meant I finally proved the soulmate thing to be bullshit. I shouldn’t have left but I was so angry and frustrated.”_

_He lifted my lifeless hand and kissed the top of it finally letting tears fall from his eyes. “Please come back, I vow to never leave if you just come back to me.” He paused as if waiting for me to respond but I couldn’t, I was a spectator grasping at life. “When I noticed the mark fading I decided to come home, I’d bought a plane ticket but I was attacked on my way to the airport. If I had made that flight I would have been back in time to stop all this.”_

_“It's time for you to go, Ryan.” Jack stern voice said from the doorway._

_“I’m not leaving, you said she’d get better if I was close to her.”_

_“We said a lot of things but the only thing you need to worry about now is getting as far away from here as possible. Because if that girl dies, you enemy number one to the Fakes.”_

_“I am one of you! I have been for years, she only came into our lives two years ago.”_

_“She’d never abandoned us.”_

_“I did it to you protect you all from-”_

_“The Vagabond? You can’t keep using that as a scapegoat. Vagabond fell in love with her and first sight, it was Ryan Haywood who needed convincing. That’s why Vagabond abandoned you when you were attacked because you don’t deserve her.”_

_Geoff emerged from the door, much calm now. “Everyday while you were away she was determined to prove you didn’t need your soulmate to live and she made believers of all of us until …”_

_“Until I told them how Kat and I had to run to her room in the middle of the night and help heal wounds we couldn’t see, ease nightmares that weren’t her own,” Jeremy growled from the corner chair I hadn’t notice he was sitting in._

_Time was beginning to mean nothing to me as I watched people come in and out of my hospital room just waiting for something to change. I wanted out of this hospital but I couldn’t even leave the room without losing consciousness. I wanted to make up with Ryan but I couldn’t in this form. I wanted to go home and I had no idea how to accomplish that._

_“Claire?” I had never heard Ryan sound so broken as he entered the room. “You need to get better.” He looked thinner, like whatever happened to me was now happening to him and I began to worry. “If you don’t we will both find an early grave.” He looked down at his almost completely gone mark and panic overwhelmed me. My adrenaline shot straight up which normally wouldn’t bother me but the motions hooked up to me began to beep and screech until nurses ran in._

_“What's going on?!” Ryan demanded. “I’m her fiance, you have to tell me!”_

_“We don’t know, please sir, just let us do our jobs.”_

My whole body felt tired, it was a battle just to open my eyes but I fought through it, the only thought in my head was that Ryan needed me. When I opened my eyes the Dooley’s were standing on the left side of my bed looking down at me and Ryan was sat on my right side, his head on the bed and his hand holding mine. I grunted an I squeezed his hand to get his attention, his head snapped up and looked to see if I was truly awake. 

“Don’t ever do this again.”

“I promise,” he said through tears.

“If you break that promise I will send Jeremy to find you and we will let Kat kill you.” We all looked at Kat who was too nice to kill but that just meant she’d mean it the most. “We owe Kat and Jeremy our lives and you will be the one to repay them for what you’ve done to me.”

“I will.” 

“Good, now I’m going to take a nap.”

“No!” the other three said at the same time.

“Relax, my whole body is just exhausted.”

“That’s what you told Gavin.” Jeremy accused. 

“Something tells me it won’t happen this time.”

“Claire, I love you,” Ryan said softly.

“I know.” I smirked and closed my eyes.


	2. What Kind of Shot are We Talking About?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nice Antibody. Wanna Conjugate?  
> Vagabond and a Doctor. Thought up the bad scene one day when I was depressed and surrounded it with fluff, enjoy while i procrastinate on all my other stories.

She was egotistical, well maybe that isn’t entirely true. She’d worked hard to be as successful as she was and all she wanted in return was the love of a man who valued her and would proudly introduce her to everyone in his life. There was a lot to be impressed by, she was an MD who worked in the emergency department at the Central Los Santos Medical Center (though people seemed to forget that while she had a well-paying job she would have student debts to pay back for years to come.) She was 5’5, a little of the thicker side but she was beautiful. A wide face with a button like a bubble nose and bright blue eyes, naturally wavy, long, blonde hair that fell just between her shoulder blades. She was attractive in a cute sense, she’d have to try incredibly hard to come across as sexy. 

The outer appearance of a successful, young woman but inside she was still missing that life long partner and it constantly pulled at her heart. She’d tried dating sites but ended up discovering the men on their only wanted sex and money, no true commitment was in the cards for them. She tried blind dates her friends and coworkers set her up on but most of the guys were fully established anti-feminists that would make her pay half the bill to prove their point (even if the things she ordered was less than half the bill), or only agreed to the date to get someone off their back. Dating had been so much easier in high school and college, she was constantly meeting new people with the potential of developing further. She was ready to give up but then she found her now boyfriend in the last place she had expected. 

At a charity ball, the hospital was hosting to raise money for special needs adults. The children always had people willing to donate money to help their programs but so many adults struggled to pay their medical bills and received no help. So, when the director of adult health approached her requesting assistance in hosting the event she agreed. She didn’t work on the night of the event but she spent weeks planning and reaching out to shops and vendors to carter and provide the decor, food, and drinks for the event. When the night came everything was perfect, sophisticated and professional and she got to enjoy the night as a guest. 

Dinner had finished, speeches had been made and then she was whisked to the dance floor by grateful patients who’d benefit from the money raised. Each asking for a dance to express their gratitude until she found herself in the arms of a man she didn’t recognize. Intense blue eyes, soft brown hair, he was taller than her and seemed to know something she didn’t. They talked throughout the dance and enjoyed each other company, turned out he came to the event to donate money to the program but he, himself was perfectly healthy. They parted ways after the dance and she instantly regretted not catching his name or number. 

Fate is a fickle thing. An hour later gunshots rang out as a group of masked people stormed into the venue guns blazing and rage in their eyes. She was terrified as she watched the man who appeared to be the leader put a gun to the temple of the director of the hospital and pull the trigger. Her boss dropped dead and the room went silent, obeying every instruction for the gunmen. The man she’d danced with found her amongst the kneeling crowd and moved to her placing himself in front of her body to protect her. 

The police arrived too late, the men had already run off with the $37,000 they had raised and left three dead people in its place. She was shaking the remainder of the night while the man she’d dance with recovered faster and offered to drive her home. She agreed, her fear actually ended up asking him to stay the night in her apartment. He’d declined, but gave her his number and promised to come back if she needed him. He was the perfect gentlemen and by the end of the week, Melody Morgan could say that Ryan Haywood was her boyfriend. 

He was attractive but she didn’t really care about that, it was his personality that captivated her. His sense of humor was morbid and full of innuendos much like her own, he was kind and considerate with a perfect combination of traditionalist views and modern. And his intelligence! She was an expert in the medical field but that was about it, Ryan had such an expansive knowledge bank, she was always learning new things from him. It also became clear early on that he wasn’t in it for her money, he was wealthy on his own and he also wasn’t in it for a quick lay. Of course, he was only human and did have sexual needs but he’d made it clear he could take care of it himself if she was in the mood. 

“Can I meet your friends?” she asked softly in the warm embrace of his arms as they cuddled up for bed one night. 

“You’ve met my friends.” he chuckled. 

“Not your family friends, your work friends. You spend so much time with them and talk about them all the time, I want to put a face to the names.” 

“I don’t think you’ll like them.” 

She could tell he didn’t want her to meet his friends and she worried why. Stories she’d read and movies she’d watched told her that it usually meant cheating but she didn’t think he was the type to cheat. Her gut instincts were typically correct and Ryan didn’t set them off, so what other reason could he possibly have for keeping herself separated from them. He felt her tense slightly and knew he’d made a mistake. 

“If you really want to meet them I will set something up, just don’t get mad at me when you don’t like them.” he conceded.

“I don’t have to like them,” she kissed him sweetly. “I just want to meet them, if I like them its a bonus.” 

A week later Ryan’s friend Geoff, was hosting a pool party at his new home and Ryan thought it was the perfect opportunity for Melody to meet them all at once. If they didn’t get along at least the guys would shut up once they saw her in a bikini. She was so excited, he found it adorable but he didn’t understand why. Though he did enjoy the show she gave him while she tried on all bathing suits to see what fits and what doesn’t. She insisted on bringing something to the party so he had been the taste tester for a fruit salad she made for the event. 

She braided her hair in an elegant but practical way so she could get in the pool without ruining it. She’d only applied her waterproof mascara, leaving her natural looks to do all the work. She wore a pair of jean shorts and a towel like a tank top over her swimsuit so she wouldn’t have to worry about changing back and forth. She was also the kind of person who’d rather be early than on time, so they arrived thirty minutes early.

“Melody this is Geoff and his girlfriend Jack.” Ryan introduced when they walked into the kitchen where the two were still in the process of cooking. 

“Can I help with anything?” Jack was prepared to say no but Geoff beat the redhead with a ‘yes’ and Melody was quick to tie her hair back and wash her heads. Ryan followed suit and watched as the two women bonded. 

She met each of his friends and significant other was they arrived, she seemed to mesh surprisingly well with them. By the time food was done being eaten she was in the pool dunking Gavin and trying to chicken fight with Lindsay and Michael but when they refused Jeremy and Kat offered to play.

“Ryan please.” she pulled on his arm trying to coax him from his resting place along the edge of the pool to where Kat was already up on Jeremy’s shoulders getting comfortable in the air. 

“Its alright Melody, Ryan just doesn’t want everyone to know he’s a weakling.” Jeremy taunting. 

Melody knew Ryan wasn’t one to respond to teasing but he conceded nothing the less. He sunk down under the water and help guide Melody onto his shoulders, which drew in everyone else's attention. Kat and Melody sat atop their partners in their swimsuits, wrestling to knock the other into the water. Jeremy had his arms crossed around Kat’s legs that dangled over his chest while Melody had wrapped her legs around Ryan so they were locked behind his back and his hand rested on each of her knees. 

“Hey, Ryan, worth it.” Jeremy laughed and Melody took advantage of his laughter, thrusting the top of her body at Kat’s shoulder while Ryan used his leg to slowly pull at Jeremy’s knee so he began collapsing toward Ryan and Melody. When it became apparent they were going down, Kat disengaged from Jeremy and fell the opposite direction but Jeremy falling still knocked Ryan backward. Losing his balance, Melody struggled to stay on his shoulders and decided to let go as well but she hadn’t realized how far Ryan had stumbled. Melody fell back, the back of her head hitting the edge of the pool as she fell. Thankfully Ryan was already halfway down when she releases and the hit wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

“Melody!” she heard Ryan calling out to her and when she opened her eyes she was looking up at several people. Ryan moved to help her sit and she held her hand up to him. 

“Wait,” she took a moment to gather herself and try to remember what happened and it came back. She’d blacked out but had no memory loss, it didn’t feel like she was bleeding just in a lot of pain. “I need to get up slowly, I may have a concussion but nothing to serve.”

“I’ll call a doctor,” Jack said grabbing her cell phone.

“No need, some painkillers, and regulated sleeping should be fine enough,” Melody answered as she slowly rose with Ryan’s help. She saw Jack was still continuing to dial in her phone. “I’m a doctor, Jack. Trust me, I am fine. Should anything cause me to worry I will go straight to the hospital.” 

“We didn’t know that.” Geoff smiled looking impressed. It looked like he was going to say something more but Ryan turned to silence him. 

“I think that’s enough partying for us, I’m going to take her home.” Ryan picked her up bridal style.

“Ryan, you put me down right now!” she pushed against his chest until he obeyed. Gavin and Michael sorted back laughter as Ryan begrudgingly did as he was told. “But yes, I think that’s enough for one day. Thank you for having us.”

“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call. Send us updates, Ry” Jack patted Ryan’s shoulder gentle as they all said goodbye. 

Melody handed over her keys to Ryan and let him drive her home, while he drove she instructed him that he needed to wake her up every hour for the next twenty-four hours and ask her questions she should know the answers to. But she had successfully charmed his friends, proven when they all contacted Ryan to check on her health. 

Within weeks she’d become a mandatory invite to all non-work related events, she had earned their friendship by holding her own and the initial meeting. However, when they found out she was an Emergency Room doctor, Ryan did his best to keep her away from anything crew related. He didn’t even want her knowing about the crew and so far his secret remained intact and the crew was honoring his request thus far but something told him it wouldn’t last. 

It was a dark, stormy night in late January and she was exhausted. Work had been more taxing than normal, a bomb had gone off at a bank resulting in the hospital overflowing with civilians being rushed to the ER. She wanted to go home a go to bed, skip dinner, skip sex with Ryan, skip a shower and just crash. But her car had been stolen a week or two ago so Ryan had kindly offered to drive her to and from work until the insurance money came in for her to put a downpayment on a new car. She tried calling him but he didn’t answer, she had told him her shift ended two hours ago but after the bomb, she told him she’d call him when she was ready. 

“Everything alright Dr. Morgan?” she turned around to see one of the officers who’d been taken reports smoking by the ashtray.

“Just trying to get ahold of my ride.” she held her phone up. The cop checked the time and put out his cigarette. 

“My shift is over, I could give you a ride?” he offered. She went to refuse but the rain began falling even harder.

“Thank you, I appreciate it.” She got into the cruiser but the moment he sat down beside her something didn’t feel right. She was unnaturally afraid of seemingly nothing, she told herself it was the rough day combined with the raging storm. She reminded herself she was safe with a law enforcement officer with her but her gut told her to run. 

For the first time in her life, she ignored her gut feeling. It was a mistake. The fear her gut told her to feel turned out to be the result of sitting beside an abusive rapist who had no qualms using his handcuffs to cuff her to the banister of her stairs and do as he wished with her. She screamed and fought as much as she could but it only seemed to excite him more the more damage she dealt with him. He was stronger and she had no use of her hands and his body pinned her uncomfortably to the staircase as he took what he wanted from her. One of her neighbors had heard the commotions and came to check on her. The cop reassured the neighbor and left with her leaving Melody cuffed to the railing, clothes torn and hanging for her body, and several bruises forming. 

Her phone lay beside her foot and she did her best to try and call Ryan but she couldn’t unlock her phone. All she could do was wait until someone came looking for her or called her. Thankful Ryan called twenty minutes later and she was able to answer the phone.

“Where are you?” he asked so casually, he didn’t know what had happened but his tone made the tears stream anew. 

“Home, Ryan I need you!” She shouted into the air hoping he could hear her. She had managed to place the call on speaker and the moment her crying pleas reached Ryan’s ears she heard his car tires screech against the pavement and begin speeding.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Just please …” she trailed off not being able to speak over her tears. 

He was there faster than she had thought he could be if he was coming from the hospital and the moment he opened her apartment door she instantly felt ashamed. He just stared for a moment, his face void of any emotion as he observed the scene before him. His eyes registered it all but his eyes kept refocusing on the dried blood at the corner of her lips, the bruising on her checks and the blackening of her right eye. 

“Help me!” Melody cried as she shocks her hands up and down making the metal cuffs clank against the banister. Ryan pulled out a pocket knife and knelt down to pick the lock on the cuffs he remained silent as he worked on freeing her wrists and the moment her hands were free he focused on her wrists. They’d been rubbed raw from her struggling to get free, she couldn’t meet his eyes she pulled her hands away from him and rushed up the stairs. 

She wanted to wash the even away but she knew she needed to go to the hospital to be examined and all the evidence she would need to have him convicted remained on her currently. But once she was upstairs she stared at her bed and came to the conclusion there was nowhere she could go to turn in a cop, not now that the police force had proved to be a corrupt as she’d been told. 

“Melody talk to me.” Ryan was suddenly in front of her and cupping her face, she immediately flinched away and distanced herself from him. It's not that she was afraid of him it was mostly the trauma she’d just been through mixed blaming herself and feeling like she’d been unfaithful in their relationship though she’d fought as hard as she could. 

“I’m so sorry Ryan! I tried to stop him-” she wanted to move into his arms but she kept her distance. 

“Honey this isn’t your fault. Let’s get you cleaned up, mend those wounds and we can talk.”

The helpless desperation in his eyes forced her to push the trauma away and let him help her into the bathtub where he took care of her as if this was aftercare for an intense sex session. Once he was helping her into clean clothes she told him in detail what happened as she pulled at his t-shirt she was now wearing. He tried to remain calm while she told her story seeing how much she was struggling as it is. But he had exactly what he needed, the officer's name and badge number, how she was able to memorize his badge number during the ordeal he didn’t want to know but he was going to take care of it. 

Eventually, she cried herself to exhaustion and fell asleep in his arms. He got her tucked into bed, placed a tracking system in her phone and headed off to get his vengeance. He was going to improve her security measures afterward. For now, he picked up the cop and went off the grid.

Two days later Melody got a call from Jeremy. 

“Have you heard from Ryan,” he asked.

“Sort of,” she was suddenly tense. “He texted me this morning but that was it.”

“Are you guys fighting?” Jeremy asked suddenly concerned. 

“No, it's just … I don’t want to talk about it.”

“So Ry is just off sulking?”

“No, we are perfectly fine, I had some personal issues and Ryan is giving me space to figure things out on my own before we work on it together.”

“He hasn’t been in to work for a couple of days.” 

“I will give him a call and let you know.” 

“No, its cool he’s calling now. Bye.” Jeremy hung up abruptly.

The crew had noticed Ryan’s absence but weren’t worried apart from Jeremy, they assumed Ryan had taken a side job and would be back soon. Jeremy wasn’t ready to let go of it so easily so he put recording devices in Melody’s apartment and waiting for Ryan to call her and the moment he did Jeremy was able to ping his phone and track him. His investigation led him to the sight before him now. 

Ryan decked out in full Vagabond fashion, a knife in one hand a blow torch in the other as he growled at a naked man strapped to a chair. A torn police uniform on the ground told Jeremy that his friend had abducted a cop. 

“What the fuck?” Jeremy shouted causing both men to turn to look at him.

“You need to leave.” Ryan seethed at Jeremy. 

Jeremy nearly flinched at the intensity of his best friend eyes, there was an anger in his eyes, the type of anger that made Jeremy pity the man strapped to the chair. Jeremy held his hands up and came closer in the room. Jeremy looked over to the captive and found that Ryan castrated the man and caused several different types of damage to him. 

“Why?” Jeremy asked and the captive smirk.

“Tell him,” the man spat blood on the ground. “Tell him how I defiled your precious girlfriend,” the man tried to open one of his puffy eyes and couldn’t. “Tell him how I fucked your girlfriend until she screamed for me to kill her! Tell him!” 

Ryan wound back and punched the man with the back of his knife and growled menacingly. 

“What is he talking about?” Jeremy asked, inferring what was going on now and developing a wave of anger himself. 

“He raped and beat Melody.” 

“Why is he still alive?” Jeremy asked picking up some brass knuckles and removed his sunglasses. 

“I want him to beg for death.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard.” Jeremy nodded and together, the battle buddies spent the next three days making the asshole wish he was never born. 

Ryan was being slow with the physical aspect of their relationship since the events over a week ago and she appreciated it. What was getting old fast was his new insistence on making her smile with crappy jokes. She was driving his Zentorno to a restaurant near his apartment where they were meeting the rest of Ryan’s crew for dinner but his jokes were making her groan now. 

“Are you my appendix? Because I don't understand how you work, but this feeling in my stomach makes me want to take you out.”

“Ryan stop!” she groaned pulling into a parking stall.

“Excuse me, I think you dropped something: My jaw.”

“I swear to fucking God Ryan, I will murder you.” she snapped as they got out of the car. 

“I am an organ donor, need anything?” he wiggled his eyebrows as her and she finally cracked and started laughing hard. Part of it was what he said and his expression and the other part of it was the horrified look on Geoff’s face and the smirks on Gavin and Michael’s face from where they had walked up behind Ryan. “Okay, my dick is not that funny,” Ryan said getting defensive but Melody only began laughing harder, tears threatening to fall. 

“Apparently it is Ry.” Jeremy teased. 

Ryan whipped around, his cheeks tinting a faint pink as his friends all smirked deviously at him. Melody was still grinning from ear to ear as she walked over and looped her arm in his. 

“If you need a love doctor, I have like a medicated degree.” Melody mocked him as they all headed in. 

As the meal progressed Ryan notice she was acting more like herself but she was much more touchy with him than she had ever been before. They had both agreed early on that PDA wasn’t their thing but if this is what she needed to recover he could bare it. As dessert came, she placed her hand on his inner thigh and he nearly jumped out of his chair, when he met her gaze he saw the lust dilating her beautiful eyes. 

“Are you sure?” he whispered to her when she made it clear she wanted to have sex with him. “After …”

“It will hurt, it’s always going to hurt but eventually the poison numbs you. Like you paralyzed and its festering through your skin. And you think you’ve found a way to cope only to have it ripped out of your grasp and you're forced to realize you need help from someone else, someone you trust. The only way to rid myself of the poison is to have someone else suck it out of me.”

“Alright calm down with the deepness.” he joked but he understood and was glad she was opening up and trying to move on from this. “What are we going to do to get out of here?” he gestured to the other people at the table.

“Hey guys we are going to get going, Ryan needs to show me his organ!” I announced loudly making the table burst into laughter as Ryan stood grumbling and lead her out. Once they were gone the rest of their friends got serious. 

“She seems to be doing okay.” Jack said softly.

“I didn’t realize she was ready to have sex again since…” Lindsay trailed off.

“They haven’t,” Jeremy admitted.

“I don’t think Ryan has recovered, he hasn’t been himself,” Meg noted. 

“All we can do is be there for them and put our efforts into keeping those we care about safe.” Geoff sighed. 

“Wouldn’t she be safer if she knew about the crew?” Gavin asked. 

“Of course she would! But Ryan won’t let us tell her.” Michael reminded everyone.

“Maybe you don’t tell Ryan, bring her into the fold without him knowing?” Kat suggested. Everyone turned to look at her. “She’s a doctor right? Next time someone needs medical attention call her in and keep Ryan away.” 

“You could tell him the medics you have aren’t experienced enough to handle the situation.” Meg agreed with Kat. 

“Are we all in agreement?” Jack asked.

Everyone nodded. They weren’t going to purposely get hurt but in their line of work, it was inevitable. It ended up taking three months before a serious enough injury occurred, the only problem was Ryan wasn’t on this particular job. In fact, Ryan should be with Melody currently. Geoff recalled that Ryan had planned something to ask her to move in with him today but they had to do something. 

Ryan was in the shower when Melody’s phone rang. She was still nude from the excited sex they had after she said yes, her smile transforming to her tone as she picked up the phone. 

“Hey, Jack.”

“Melody we need your help and you can’t tell Ryan.” the panic in Jack’s voice had Melody pulling on her discarded clothes. 

“What’s going on?” 

“I can’t explain, Jeremy is hurt real bad. I will text you the address but please don’t tell Ryan.”

She suspected they didn’t want to worry Ryan until Jeremy was in recovery, as far as she could tell the two were best friends. She dressed and grabbed her keys before knocking on the bathroom door.

“Hey, honey! I’m going to go buy dinner, I will be back soon.” it was a lie but it was the best thing she could come up with.

“Give me five and I will join you.”

“Nope! I want to surprise you. I love you, bye!”

She left before he could protest further, they had been at a hotel on the outskirts of town for no other reason than to spend a lazy weekend in. The address Jack texted her thankfully wasn’t too far from where they were but no amount of time would have prepared her for what she found. 

The people in the room she had seen many times on the television but they had the voices of her friends and the face on the infamous Rimmy Tim was revealed to be Jeremy Dooley who was lying face down on a hospital bed, several bullets lodged into his back. She tried her best to ignore the other people in the room and focused on helping Jeremy, she would talk with them afterward.

“Hey Jeremy, how’s Kat?” She asked trying to distract him from the pain he was feeling as she pried the bullets from his back. He needs to take it easy during his recovery and she had a feeling she’d be the one to clean and replace his bandages. The Fake AH Crew appeared to have fully stocked medical supplies so she was able to properly treat Jeremy and put him to sleep once she was finished. 

“You're taking this well.” Gavin smiled as she sat with them in the living room.

“I don’t know how to take this, the best way I can think is pretending this never happened,” she confessed. 

“You’ve been through much worse and came out on top,” Michael remarked.

“What Michael means is we brought you into the loop to better keep you safe,” Jack said.

“Keep me … Ryan told you?” she stood in embarrassed shame. 

“Ryan didn’t tell us anything,” Geoff said trying to reassure her so she didn’t bolt but his words only frightened her further and she ran for the door but the moment she opened it she ran in the sturdy chest of Ryan. 

“Don’t think any of these assholes know how to cook,” Ryan growled angrily though he stared at the crew and not her. 

“You knew they were part of a gang?” she asked him in disbelief.

“He is part of the crew,” Jack said. 

“Didn’t notice Vagabond was missing, love?” Gavin asked. 

“Vaga … bond?” he knees buckled but she remained conscious. Ryan grabbed her before she fell and set her down on the couch. 

“Seems we have a lot to discuss and I have five assholes to torture,” Ryan said getting comfortable.


	3. I'm going to Report you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very short one-shot to try and help with my writers block

Evelyn didn’t want to tell Ryan about her current dilemma until she resolved it herself but he was going to find out any minute since Geoff and Michael knew. They had found out on accident, she had gone to McDonald's to get something quick and easy because she knew she was going to be useless when she got home. She’d been struggling not to cry as she gave her order to the cashier when Geoff and Michael walked in. They wouldn’t leave her alone until she told them what happened and the moment she did Geoff a solution.

“Email me your resume and I will give you a reference.” Geoff had promised.

Which is how she ended she wound up walking out of an interview at Rooster Teeth. She hadn’t told Ryan, she never kept things from him but she was too embarrassed about losing her job. Well, laid off is more like it but that’s what happens when you work in Human Resources and the company you work for gets bought by a bigger company with no room for her.

“Evelyn? What are you doing here?” she turned around to see Ryan smiling and heading her way. She kissed him and tried to think of what to say to him but Michael spoke before she could.

“How was the job interview?”

“What job interview?”

“I um … I …” suddenly Evelyn’s mouth was too dry and Ryan had pieced together what was going on.

“You lost your job?”

“I was going to tell you but I wanted to wait until I fixed the problem but then Geoff found out and said there was an opening in HR here and I wanted-”

“Evelyn, calm down. I understand.”

“You do?”

He gave her a sweet kiss and shared in his excitement at the prospect of them working together. Two days later she received the call telling her she’d gotten the job, she had only been out of work for one week but it had been a terrifying week. Evelyn had been worried about working for the same company as her but in actuality she never saw him at work.

***

The hunters were filming a Minecraft episode, about twenty minutes in comedy happened after Gavin died and Ryan made a sexual innuendo.

“Come here Gavin,” Ryan chased Gavin’s character through Minecraft after Gavin had killed Ryan on accident. “Come here Gavin.” Ryan purred.

“Keep away from my anus! It’s still sore from Geoff.”

“Oh good then your all warmed up for me.”

“Whoa Ryan! I will go to HR.” Gavin threatened.

“That doesn’t work on him anymore, Gav. Ryan wants to be reported to HR.” Michael joked.

“What why?” Jeremy asked.

“His girlfriend works in HR.” Jack explained.

“Then what are you doing in here?” Jeremy asked a little too loudly.

“You need to take a break every now and again to prevent chafing.” Ryan joked back.

“He did walk in here with an extra pep in his step,” Geoff said loudly into the microphone.

“Well, where did you think I came from?”

They all busted up into laughter until the door opened and Evelyn stood there with arms crossed. “You enjoy getting reported to HR?”

“Oooo!” everyone but Ryan let out the long noise.

“Evelyn it was just a joke.” Ryan stood.

“It better be Ryan Haywood otherwise your going to be in trouble at work and at home.” Evelyn walked over to Geoff and handed him some documents that he’d requested.


	4. Amnesiac

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A thunderous boom and a massive cloud of fire and smoke Ryan saw his life literally fade from view. She was gone and the likelihood that she would be the woman she once was slim. How can you cope when the person you love looks at you as if you are a stranger?

“Taking her home might not be the best idea right now.” the doctor spoke softly to the man who claimed to be my husband. They were trying not to be overheard by me but what else did I have to do, I’d been stuck in this god awful hospital room for I don’t know how long. I just wanted out of here, for people to stop staring at me like I’d killed a puppy.

“She isn’t going to remember anything being locked up in here,” he argued.

“Just … be careful. If you try to force her to remember or throw too much at her too fast you could send her into shock and -”

“We’ve been over this, I will be careful. I just want to take my wife home.”

The doctor, surprisingly conceded, leaving to get my discharge paperwork. The man I had been told was named Ryan entered the room a cautious smile on his lips. Many had come and seen me since I woke up, all introduced themselves as my friends and each and everyone one of them looked at me with the same pitty etched into my ‘husbands’ face.

“We can go home today?”

“Where is home?”

“Not far, about fifteen minutes from here.”

I looked out the window, it was raining outside, they grey held a sense of melancholy that sat deep within me. I didn’t want to be around anyone who knew me anymore, the staring and sadness was aggravating. But I could put up with Ryan’s stare if it meant I could leave this room. I could feel his eyes on me even though I was clearing more interested in the street outside than I was in him.

It's not that I didn’t want to remember who I was or who was in my life, I’d been trying since I woke up but I couldn’t remember. The doctors were worried about me and kept thwarting and attempts made my friends and Ryan. Everything I knew about myself was what they had told me which wasn’t much. I knew I was 34 years old, Ryan and I had been married for eleven years and we worked together but everything else was a blank canvas I needed to paint.

“Mrs. Haywood, your husband is waiting downstairs in the car. If you have any symptoms please don’t hesitate to call.”

I nodded to him and let the nurse lead me out of the hospital and to the parking lot. What I found made me smirk, my ‘husband’ was sat in the driver side of a Zentorno. I don’t know why I found it amusing but I slide easily into the passenger side and a wide smile spread to my lips as he started driving away.

“Why are you smiling?” he asked in confusion but there was a hint of humor in his tone.

“I don’t know, I just feel like … I have good memories in this car.” I realized what I had said and tried to hold on tight to the thought if I focused on it hard enough I might remember something.

“Such good memories.” his tone went off as if he was remembering. “We had sex on the hood after our second date.”

“Really?” I laughed in shock. I didn’t like I was that kind of girl. Base on the clothes I had been wearing when they brought me in I has assumed I was a goody-two-shoes, church girl who only had sex in missionary position. “What is my favorite sex position?” I asked now curious.

“Cowgirl.” he said quickly but that didn’t sound right.

“No, it’s not.”

“Oh, wait, it's mine. What is it then?” he shot me a quick smile like he was grasping at the memories that wanted to come forward but refused to step over the line.

"Don't you know?"

"I do but let's see what you think."

“I want to say the pretzel but I have no idea what that is.”

“It is your favorite. If you behave maybe I will teach you later.”

He turned into the driveway of a modern looking, two-story home. Studying the home, the living windows were a ceiling to floor and overlooked the right side of the house. I assumed those windows were the reason for the dozens of cameras I spotted.

"This is our home." he smiled softly and got out of the car.

I followed him into the house and allowed him to take me on a tour. From the front door to the right was the living room very open and spacious. Directly in front of us was a hallway, three doors on the left wall and a staircase on the right. The three doors led to the dining room, kitchen, and bathroom in that order. Parallel to the bathroom door was another door I assumed to be a small storage room under the stairs but it actually led to the other side of the living room.

The design seemed rather odd to me and before I could even ask him, Ryan answered. "The contractor was being a dick so you tried to make the job as hard as possible. You will get used to it quickly."

Upstairs were three bedrooms but he only showed me ours, no need to view spare rooms. A slightly larger bathroom with a spa looking tub separate the bedrooms from the office. The office had to setups on opposite sides of the room with an indoor window acting as a center divider.

"What is with that?" I pointed to the window.

"That's actually an inside joke," his grin grew. "You said we needed two offices because you didn't want to worry about walking in on me jacking off. I told you no, it's not something I do in here anyway."

_'It's the only fight you won.'_ The thought popped into my head but I didn't tell Ryan. It was a small memory and I didn't want to get his hopes up.

"Are you hungry?"

"Starving! The hospital food was terrible."

"Good, you need to eat something with the medication they prescribed," he said as he read the pill bottle.

"Do you mind if I take a bath and change?"

"You don't need, permission this is your home, you can do as you please." he moved like he was going to kiss me but decided against it. "I'm going to make us something to eat."

Finally alone for the first time since waking up from the accident that led to my memory loss, scared chest bone, and a broken arm, I took a deep breath and allowed my emotions to do as they pleased. I felt every emotion imaginable hit me like a tidal wave causing my head to acne and spin until it settled on one emotion, fear.

Scared that I would never remember who I was, scared that everyone would always compare me to the person I might no longer be. But for now, I push that away and entered the closet. there are so many different types of styles it was hard to decipher what kind of style was mine there was everything from fancy clothes to casual, from preppy to goth I would have to ask Ryan about this when I got out of the shower.

I undressed in the bathroom and toss my clothes in the hamper when I stood straight again that's when I noticed something black in the mirror. Looking at my skin just under my left breast across my rib cage world list of three names the first of which was Ryan's and the other two I didn't recognize. I wanted to ask him about it but I was afraid of what I might learn so I thought it better to hold off for now.

After taking a very warm shower I dressed and comfortable looking worn jeans and a baggy t-shirt. As I was going to leave the room I noticed on one of the bedside tables was a wedding photo. Ryan's arms are wrapped around my waist my back to his chest and I was hunched slightly laughing at something. A memory hit me like a ton of bricks. a British man was taking that photo and I was laughing at something a tattooed man headset to a redheaded woman but I couldn't remember any names. Ryan was staring at me like I was the greatest gift on Earth and I hadn't even known.

And went downstairs and found him setting the table, he had made some macaroni and cheese which was fine by me anything other than hospital food was perfect right now. He smiled widely at me until he saw the frame I was holding.

"I remember this picture being taken, I remember Red headed woman, a heavily tattooed man, and a British boy. I remember the tattoo man making fun of the red-headed woman and I just lost it laughing but you pulled me back into your arms and another photo was snapped shortly after this one. This was taken at a wedding reception?"

"You were almost 100% correct."

"What did I mess up?"

"this photo was taken shortly after we said our vows but before we got the wedding reception. Gavin had suggested we stop take photos when he saw a really pretty Park on our way to the reception. I knew bringing you home and start bringing back memories."

We in silence after that, I could tell there was so much he wanted to say but he didn't want to push me. It made me think that passed me you didn't deserve him with how much he had already done for me since I've woken up.

"Ryan, was I good to you?"

"What?" He chuckled a bit but seemed genuinely confused.

"Was I good to you? you seem so considerate and like a genuinely good person both morally and ethically. I can't imagine me being someone who deserved you."

"You are exactly what I deserve and vice versa. Neither one of us is more or less, we are equals and we have been since day one. Just the memories of you being good to me haven't surfaced yet and I don't want to force any memories on you so, for now, you only know what your mind will allow."

My heart ate because he seems so perfect but I knew there had to be flawed I don't know how I know but I knew. He would do anything for me and normally that thought would be good but for some reason that brought a foreboding feeling to mind. But his actions with me since I woke up made me realize whether my memories are turned or not I didn't want to lose this man. He was very careful not to push me even avoided touching me because he didn't want to make me uncomfortable physically. He kept checking in on me without actually saying the words so I wouldn't have to confess how I was feeling. whether past me took him for granted or not I wasn't going to ruin.

"Can I kiss you? can I kiss you?" The words fell from my lips at the moment I realized I said what I did, I really wanted to.

"You never need to ask, the answer will always be yes."

He came to me but didn't make the move, uncertain if I would change my mind or not the decision would be mine and mine alone. He knew I didn't remember our past sexual exploits so he was letting me take control so I could stop at if I got uncomfortable. I brought my lips to him and it wasn't like the movies or the fairy tale endings. And that one kiss I knew that this man was meant for me not because of some divine intervention but because of my so I could feel every time we'd ever kissed and this kiss was nothing like those. It was broken and cold, full of regret and sorrow. Something that happened, I don't know what it was but that only made our bond even stronger as melancholy as the feelings passing through us were, it brought us closer together.

When we pulled apart there was a single tear sliding down my face and that same fear from before I showered rose in my throat again. I look to Ryan desperately hoping I could convey with my eyes when I needed.

"Please don't leave me" my voice cracked and it was so full of pain I almost could physically feel it. Ryan didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around me and pulled me to his chest hugging me closely.

"I would never leave you and you're so vulnerable. actually, I would never leave you until we exhausted every method to repair any damage."

It was pretty funny we went from hugging desperately one minute to slowly swing as if there was music. another memory popped up in my head as we swayed back and forth to the non-existent music. This memory like the last is also from my wedding day, the first and last time we had danced together. We never danced together before mainly because I hated dancing, Ryan knew what he was doing and he took the lead. I have had so much fun but to admit that to him would seal my fate so I told him I had only danced to with him because he begged me. He never asked me after that night, if I have been honest maybe we could have been dancing all these years.

Ironic that some of the first memories that arise are short but true. one is a lie I had led him to believe for all these years of marriage and the other the perfect image of our love for each other.

"We never dance." I giggled into his collar bone.

"Sure we do."

"We danced once," I pulled back from his chest to meet his gaze. "At our wedding. I remember our wedding."

Absolute joy passed over his face as I spoke. Hope that my memories would indeed return. I didn't want him to get excited though, this road looked long and frustrating.

"I think it's a little weird that our wedding is my first memory to return."

"The doctor said happier moments should return faster, your subconscious is more willing to accept them."

"Do you think meeting friends would help?"

"It might but I don't want to push you too far too fast."

"I want to, please?"

He conceded but something told me that neither of us bent easily. The next morning I was reintroduced to Jack and Geoff but no memories returned. I enjoyed their company and had a lovely day with them but it was another week before any memory returned.

I was lying in bed completely naked, too lazy to get up just yet but I could hear the sound of the kitchen as Ryan cooked. I trailed my fingers up my stomach until I reached the names. I was too afraid to ask Ryan about them yet but I needed something. A week without progress was frustrating. Plucking up my courage, I threw on a pair of panties and Ryan's shirt and ran downstairs.

"Who is Evelyn and Harper?”

Ryan froze when he hesitated I life the shirt up and motioned to the three names. From top to bottom is beautiful calligraphy was Ryan, Evelyn, and Harper. His eyes moved down over my tattoos and then back to my eyes and I knew he was aware I’d been wanting to ask him and I also knew he was going to dodge the question.

“Obviously they are important enough to me that I permanently marked my skins with their names?”

“I don’t think you're ready, your memory isn’t progressing fast enough and that is a bombshell I’m not sure is good for you right now.”

“Please.”

I lost the argument but I was determined to find out who they were and I didn’t have to look hard. I just entered the spare rooms of the house, little girls rooms and inside were pictures of the four of us that had obviously been hidden in here. Ryan was right, I wasn’t ready for this because the next thing I remember I was waking up in our bed.

“What do you remember now?” he asked, an annoyed voice as he sat beside me on the bed.

“How could I forget my children?”

“It wasn’t your fault, you are a great mother and our children love you.”

“How did I get hurt?”

“An explosion.”

“Explosion? The girls-”

“They are fine, they have been staying with some of our friends while we wait for your memory to come back.”

“What if it never does?!” I jumped out of the bed, tears of brokenness and rage falling from my face. “How did I end up in an explosion?”

“We are criminals, it's part of our job description.”

It made sense, how else would we have been able to afford such an extravagant home, why else would we have such a wide array of clothing.

“I need to meet them, Ryan, I can’t abandon them. There has to be some way for my memories to return!” My voice hurt as the anguish almost became physical.

“You can’t, it will only confuse them. Please, I need you to do this for me, work on getting your memory back. I can’t explain this to the girls.” he pleaded. He moved over to my sobbing form and wrapped me in his arms and finally let the reality of my memory loss hurt him. “Please remember me, come back to me. I need my wife back.”

I screamed into his chest as I realized how powerless I was in this case, I couldn’t remember who I was and no one could help me. No one could save us but I could help Ryan, even if I had to fake it.


	5. Oh, Officer!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cops vs. Fakes  
> Or is is  
> Cop and a Fake?  
> I forgot how the story goes

Excitement bubbled in the back of my mind as I closed my locker and made my way towards the exit to the locker room. As I exited others entered to get changed for the day, looking at my watch it was eight o’clock on the dot which meant the locker room changed from female to males. As I made my way down the hall the chief walked by and slung his arm around my shoulders and began to lead me down the hall.

“What can I do for you, sir?” I asked as kindly as I could.

“Just wanted to check in, see how our newest member of the team was doing.”

“I’m well, sir. Everyone has been so welcoming, I haven’t had a hard time adjusting.”

“Good, I’m glad. If you have anything at all you need,” his hand trailed down my spine with one goal in mind and I jumped away, a smile on my face to play it off.

“I won’t hesitate to let you know, sir.”

I put space between me and the chief, as I entered the main room of the precinct i saw several detectives at their desk and only one desk had an occupant on the wrong side. A man wearing a blue and black leather jacket and a black skull mask, his wrists were bound behind his back.

“Why is this guy in a mask?” I asked the detective sitting across from him. The masked man's eyes scanned me over, it made me feel uneasy.

“You want to unmask death? Go ahead, we will all mourn you when you die.” the detective laughed at me.

“Seriously?”

“Have you not heard of the Vagabond?” the detective rounded on me in astonishment.

“Should I?” when his jaw dropped i rolled my eyes. “It’s just a mask.” I moved towards the masked man ready to remove his mask. One of his feet slowly moved to touch mine and gently moved up my leg as I reached to remove his mask. I looked down at his leg and then back up to his eyes. I could have sworn he was smiling at me.

“Marshall!” I instantly backed up at the use of my name in such a hard tone and turned to see the chief ushering me over. I cast one last glance at the Vagabond and walked over to the chief.

“Sorry for snapping but until you are more familiar with the area I don’t want you anywhere near the Fakes.”

“The Fakes?”

“No need explaining, you will learn rather quickly.”

“Sir?”

“You are on patrol of the east quarter.”

When the chief had told me I would learn all about the Fakes rather quickly I had doubted him but now the only thing I doubted was the legal system of Los Santos. I watched nightly how the group of six ran rampant through the streets often times getting caught and brought in but the charges never stuck which should have been impossible. I watched the steal from the highest security bank, seen them kill civilians and cops alike, how was it possible they weren’t in prison. Word in the streets was the Fakes had a rather expensive and incredible legal team, which meant they also had good lawyers that kept them from being convicted.

I had the misfortune tonight of booking one of the members, I had found the man known as Rimmy Tim shooting off flares onto the freeway at the oncoming traffic. He didn’t put up much of a fight, he’d barely even ran from me before I had him pinned to the ground and the cuffs firmly secured around his wrists. He was compliant during the journey and did what I needed him to do before I even asked him to do anything. He did try to make small talk with me the whole time however, but I kept my composure and only spoke when it was necessary. I sealed him behind the bars when he finally said something that caused me to break my composure.

“So how many roses are you up to now?”

“What?” I asked more out of shock than anything. Since my second day being assigned to this precinct I’d go to my locker and discover a rose laying down on top of my uniform. Not only was it strange, but it was also worrisome that someone knew my locker combination considering I was the only one with the combination.

“Rule number one is never set a lock as something personal, too easy to figure out. It only took Ryan two hours to find out your combination was your graduation date from the academy.”

“Who is Ryan? And why are the Fakes leaving roses in my locker?”

“The Fakes aren’t, one Fake is and why else do you give a pretty girl flowers?”

“So am I to assume you're the one leaving flowers in my locker?”

“Not me, Ryan. Never seen the big guy like this, you really caught his fancy. I just want to make sure you are going to hurt my friend.”

I couldn’t help laughing at him. “Do you realize how ridiculous that sounded?! Your all murderers!”

“Murderers have feelings too.”

“Doesn’t mean they will be reciprocated.”

“Oh they will be once you meet him, most people are intimidated by Vagabond but he is really a sweetheart.”

I felt myself go cold, the color draining from my face as I felt like I would vomit. Vagabond had broken into my locker every day for three months, his face mere inches from my clothes as he left a rose sitting there. The most violent and dangerous of the whole crew with a body count almost as high as victims from a war had developed an obsession with me.

“Oopsies, didn’t mean to tell you that. Well, Ryan is going to be mad at me, oh well plan B.”

“Marshall, I will take it from here. Enjoy your vacation, I know you’ve been looking forward to it.” Officer Kenmore smiled at me.

“Alyssa, where are you going on vacation?” Rimmy Tim called out as I escaped the suddenly overwhelming room.

“Fuck off.” Kenmore hit the bars of the cell to shut the man up but I felt like Rimmy Tim had gotten what he wanted tonight.

He’d wanted me to arrest him, wanted me to book him. He’d planned it all so he could get information about me and now he knew I was going on vacation. It was just a quick trip home to visit my sick grandmother but now I would need to be even more careful.

Thankfully, nothing happened. The Fakes weren’t cruel enough to follow me across the country but they were insane enough to break into my apartment while I was gone. I’d found my apartment floor coated in rose petals while sappy poetry had been posted to the walls. I growled in annoyance and heard shuffling near my bedroom. I pulled my taser out of my duffle and slowly headed towards my apartment and listened in on the conversation.

“Ryan is going to be pissed when he finds out about this.” the voice had a thick British accent and I instantly knew it was Vav.

“The guy is probably the least romantic in our whole crew! He needs our help.” I couldn’t place the other voice but based off of what I knew about the Fakes I was assuming it was Mogar. “It is a bit much though.”

My heartbeat in my ears as I kicked open her door and pointed my taser at the men who were standing near my bed placing candles.

“Shit!”

“Why won’t you guys leave me alone!?” I growled.

“Who else has visited you?” Vav asked.

“Why are you guys visiting me anyway! I told Rimmy Tim I wasn’t interested in Vagabond, no means no. Surely even criminals would abide by some kind of rule.”

“Surely a bookworm like yourself knows better than to judge a book by its cover.” his smugness just pissed her off.

“I have strict rules when it comes to dating and Vagabond breaks too many of them. Get out of my house now.”

“What are you going to do, call the cops?” Mogar taunted. I fired a shot from the taser hitting vav straight in the chest. The feeble brit instantly dropped to his knees and squealed in pain, Mogar acted fast, removed the bolts and grabbing his friend before heading to the door.

“We won’t stop you know, your our shiny new toy.” and then they were gone.

Mogar was right, they wouldn’t leave me alone. The flowers still showed up in my work locker every day but the Fakes seemed to have memorized her patrols and purposely caused problems in her areas. Gunfights, robberies, arson, so on and so forth trying to get arrested until one night I had no choice but to arrest Vagabond.

His crew had gotten away from the scene of the robbery but Vagabond had stayed behind to set explosives. I went inside to make sure everyone was okay while the other officers went after the crew. I hadn’t known he’d stayed behind until I came face to face with the C4 he’d placed. He screamed my name when he noticed and barrel into me, football tackling me just far enough away so the C4 didn’t do any fatal damage. The wind had been knocked out of me and I could feel several cuts and bruises but I pushed past it and rolled over so I was straddling Vagabond.

“You have the right to remain-”

“Really! I just save your life.” his voice was deep and irritated but I continued to pull my cuffs out. “And with the position, we are if, there are more enjoyable-”

He was cut off by my fist slamming into his masked jaw. Stunned I was able to cuff his wrists and lead him to the patrol car, of course, he was stronger than me and could escape if he wanted to but he didn’t. Once we got to the precinct and he was behind bars, I bribed my coworkers with coffee and pizza to get Vagabond alone. It was just me him and several irrelevant other people behind bars.

“Call off your friends, tell them to leave me alone. Stop following me, breaking into my locker and apartment and I will let you go.” I was on the verge of tears, so tired of this game.

“Who broke into your apartment?” he sat up, his eyes looked genuinely concerned.

“Vav and Mogar, before that Rimmy Tim cornered me to inform me of your crush-he wanted to size me up. Please tell them to stop.” I begged.

“They shouldn’t have done that, I’m sorry.” I closed my eyes and sighed and breath of relief. “I will stop them if you agree to go on a date with me.”

“What?”

“Go out with me. You said you’d let me go, so do it. I will go grab my car and pick you up in an hour when you shift ends.”

“Why would I ever agree to that?”

“Because if you don’t I won’t stop them. One date and regardless if there is a second one or not I give you my word the Fakes will stop harassing you.”

“Deal.”

I handed him the key to his cell and my heart because fate was a cruel mistress. Even as I tried to make it as difficult as possible for him he turned out to be a great guy if you ignored his career choices. He was funny, smart, kind, and intelligent. It was the best date I’d had in years and I spent a majority of it glaring at him and trying my best to hate him. I was a cop. That meant I had seen the harsh realities and learned that even though the Fakes broke the law, their morals were far better than almost the entire police force.

I had unmasked death and found him to be an attractive man I could trust to not break my heart, it should terrify me but it didn’t.


	6. My Jolly Sailor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This story was inspired by the song Twiddle by the Misbehavin’ Maidens. Also, I suck with accents so I used an online translator.

“How long will ye be gone this time?”

“We don't 'ave a time frame, ye know this Betty.”

He pressed a kiss to the fair maidens forehead, curled a lock of red hair behind her ear and grabbed his tricorn hat and off he went. The rest of his crew waited for him in the distance, Betty could recognize the frames of Shortbeard and Peg Pecker. Betty was tired of being the housewife waiting for her cheating sailor to return home. She was done smelling other women on his skin and finding their undergarments in his knapsack.

Determination burned in Betty’s yellow eyes as she dressed in travel garment and headed towards the dock. Willy’s crew had yet to set sail but she’d heard Navigator Jack talking to a tavern wench early this morning and disclose where their travels would take them this time. She’d robbed Willy of a pouch of gold, more than enough to book passage from a sea captain with a promise to reach the next port by tomorrow evening. She’d never been one for sea travel but she had a plan and she was going to get her man, mark her territory if you will.

The ship docked an hour earlier than the captain had promised so she scooped out the the local taverns and inns looking for word of Willy’s crew but none could be found. Betty purchased a room at the tavern closest to the docks, knowing this would be the first stop for the crew. She explored the island while she waited for them to arrive. As darkness descended she headed back to the tavern, as she approached the doors she heard the joyous laughter and cheers from the traven and knew they’d arrived.

Shortbeard was sat at the bar flirting with the barmaid, Peg Pecker and Limpy Dave were in another corner trying to drink each other under the table, Pirate Geoff was bouncing back and forth between watching Navigator Jack gamble and encourage Willy Two Legs to take all three of the women on his lap upstairs. Betty saw red, reaching into her boot she pulled out the ruby encrusted dagger Willy had given her as a gift of his affections and charger. She ripped two of the girls off his lap by there nappy hair and swung the dagger towards Willy. The third ran when Willy pushed her away from the incoming blade and caught Betty’s arm. His gaze locked on her in a challenge, he pushed on a pressure point making her drop the knife.

“Ye're nah supposed t' be here” he growled at her.

Not backing down from his challenge, she stepped closer to him glaring just as intensely. “'n ye're nah supposed t' be whorin' yeself out!”

“I shall do as I will 'n ye will return ship t' th' proper role o' a beauty.”

“Nah.”

All eyes on them, waiting on bated breath to see if a fight would break out. She was aware of him trying to show domination over her and everyone else encouraging her to back down but that wasn’t her. This was her man and they were equals, she wasn’t going to lose him and she wasn’t going to submit. One end of her lips tipped up in a challenging smirk then her lips were ravishing his own with a force unlike any she’d ever shown before and her hands worked at untying his trousers. Willy struggled to catch up to her and stop her from removing his pants but the moment his pants were loose she had a hold of him with one hand and was working on her own.

In front of the whole tavern Betty pushed Willy back into the chair he’d previously been sitting in and straddled him. She rode him, like it was her last ride she’d ever had and smiled victoriously when Willy’s eyes rolled back and he closed his eyes. He was close and she knew it so she stopped and his eyes shot wide open.

“Betty,” he growled out demanded she keep going.

“No more whorin'” she challenge.”

“No more.” he agreed nodding. She rewarded him by moving again but not nearly fast enough for his liking. He bared his teeth and growled at her again.

“I wants monogamy 'n respect” she whispered in his ear.

It was her turn to be surprised when he smiled sincerely and pressed his forehead to hers. “Finally,” she was confused but he continued. “From now 'n always.” Then they finished and the rest of the crew came over to provide some cover while they cleaned up and situated their clothing.

“Ye're finally a pirates wife.” Shortbeard clapped me on the back.

“Willy 'n I married last sprin’”

“He means ye past th' test, ye showed ye can defend yourself 'n ye aren't goin' t' let anyone else loot wha''s yers.” Pirate Geoff explained.

“This was all a test!" Betty exclaimed.

“Aye, but ye past” Navigator Jack smiled.

“Took yer sweet time doin' it though” Willy complained.

“Enjoy yer evenin', we shall leave early in th' mornin'” Peg Pecker smiled.

“Ye're lootin' me ship tomorrow?”

“No, ye be comin' wit' us. Ye passed th' test, now ye needs t' watch first hand how we sail th' high seas.” Willy pulled Betty in his arms. “But fer tonight, let's discover wha' other sexual activities ye've been hidin' from me.”


	7. What Once Was, Can Be Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The age-old story of lost love. She’d heard the flatline saw the damage on his person, he’d died, she’d watched him die. Grief forced her from the city but events bring her and her new fiance back to the city that took so much from her. Being back in Los Santos brings back a wave of memories, both good and back until old lies come out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning this story came to me while reading Edgar Allen Poe and listening to the Count of Monte Cristo the Musical. So kind of angsty but I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

Late in the afternoon, a couple walked through the streets of Los Santos. The woman’s green eyes were full of sadness poking out between the strands of black hair as she clung to the man. Only a few inches taller than her, his bright blue eyes were full of concern as he guided her. He was well of aware how difficult it was being back in the city where she’d lost the man she’d loved ten years ago, not to mention they were here to plan and attend her mother's funeral.

He always tried to protect her, from the moment he met her three years ago he’d always tried to be there for her. Ever the perfect man, a doctor who cared and showered her in anything she could ever want and he was willing to be with her knowing he shared her heart with the ghosts of her past. Now his concern was protecting her from herself. She hadn’t slept or eaten in two days, it was a fight just to get her to drink water. Grief and stress were pilling in on her and soon enough she’d collapse if he couldn’t convince her to put her needs first.

“It’s weird being back here,” Lana whispered into the back of Jason’s shoulder as they walked.

“Few more days and we will be heading back home.” Jason kissed her forehead. “We should stop and get something to eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Her responses were the same it had been every time he asked her, he was at wit's end. Maybe he could pick her up a smoothie instead, it would be something at least. He pulled out his phone to find the nearest restaurant, pulling his arm from her hold. It didn’t seem to bother her as her eyes scanned what few people were walking in the streets, she remembered a time when no one dared be caught on the streets. Much had changed since she’d left but she knew some things remained the same. As her gaze ventured across the street she caught the familiar hat and glasses of an old friend and turned towards him.

“Jeremy!” She called out rushing across the street. As she stepped on the sidewalk Jeremy and his companion turned to look at her and she froze.

All at once everything hit her, starvation, exhaustion, depression, shock. The man she’d love-still loved- was stood beside Jeremy. Those blue pools of icy had seen deep into her heart, those thin lips had explored her body so many times. Ryan, the man she’d held in her arms as his lifeline went flat and his life ended. The man whose lost caused her so much grief she moved to the other side of the country to try and recover.

“Ryan…” she whispered in disbelief. All of a sudden she was too hot, too tired, unable to move or speak. She wanted to cry, to scream, bless the heavens for sparring him-wanted to punch and kick at the man in anger. Instead, she collapsed, unconscious.

“Lana!” All three men shouted and ran to the women.

Jason made it last but he was quick to push everyone away and cradled her in his arms while he checked her vital signs. Jeremy knelt beside the stranger not sure how to help but determined not to leave her alone with this man. Ryan stood behind them both looking over their shoulders at the woman, too afraid to get too close to her.

“Who are you?” Jeremy asked.

“Jason Scuttle, Lana’s fiance.”

“Our place is just around the corner.” Jeremy offered and Jason was quick to accept. If Lana knew this man and called him a friend he would trust him. Jason struggled to pick her up and carry her bridal style towards the building. They walked in silence until they were safely in the elevator at the Fakes headquarters.

“May I know your names?” Jason asked as the elevator slowly rose.

“Jeremy Dooley, I’m a friend on Lana’s”

“She talks about you often.” Jason smiled at the shorter man.

“Ryan-”

“-Haywood?” Jason swallowed hard. “No wonder she collapsed, on top of everything happening right seeing a ghost is not good for her.”

“Everything going on?” Ryan tried to sound less concerned than he was but no one called him on it, they were all concerned.

“Her mother passed away a few days ago, a terrible car accident. We flew out here yesterday to take care of everything but since we got the news she’s … she hasn’t been alright.”

“We have a friend who's a doctor, we will call him,” Jeremy promised.

“No need, I am a doctor. But there isn’t really anything we can do unless you know how to force a stubborn woman to eat something and actually sleep.” Jason chuckled but his whole tone was clipped.

The elevator dinged and Jeremy led Jason towards the spare bedroom. Jason laid Lana down on the bed, removed her phone and shoes and followed Jeremy out. Ryan stayed, looking at the young women. He remembers her smile being so vibrant and her face so youthful but now it looked as if she’d aged forty years in the last ten. He moved a strand of her hair from her face and pondered how they ended up in this situation-her engaged to a handsome doctor living in New York and him living the same old life doing the same old thing with no one to share his home with.

“She still loves you,” Jason entered the room so quietly he startled Ryan enough into reaching towards his guns but he didn’t actually produce it. “When I met her three years ago I told myself I couldn’t invest in a romantic relationship if I had to compete with a ghost. Over time I accepted you into our life because I knew that, while you had her heart I’d managed to take a piece of it as well. But now that you're alive …”

“I’m not going to take her away from you if that’s what your thinking,” Ryan said, his eyes had returned to Lana.

“I wouldn’t blame you and I would understand if she left me. It would hurt me but I only want what’s best for her.”

“So do I?”

“Is that why you put her through that? She told me everything about the day you died, what could have possibly made you fake your death and hurt her that way?” Ryan only glared at Jason. “It doesn’t matter when she wakes up Jeremy and your friend Jack said they would convince her to eat something and then I think you and her should talk alone.”

“Why?”

“Because now that she knows you’re not dead, she’d never going to be able to move on from you until she has closure or you take her back.”

“I’m confused, are you trying to set me up with your bride-to-be?”

“No, I don’t want you anywhere near her. But I know her well enough to know she needs that conversation and the outcome will solidify the future for all of us.”

“She has a way of doing that.” Ryan smiles.

“Hmm?”

“Making you want a future.”

Ryan cast one last look at Lana and left the room to inform Geoff of the visitor currently sleeping in the spare apartment. Jason sat in the armchair by the bed and decided he needed some rest as well drifting off to sleep.

When Lana opened her eyes the red-headed woman who’d been like a mother to her was sitting at the foot on the bed, her shoulder resting on her better halves. Both Jack and Geoff had gentle smiles, it looked as though they hadn’t aged a day since she was gone. Sitting on the bed between them for a bag of cheeseburgers from McDonald's. Lana slowly rose her body to sit up and lean her back against the headboard of the bed.

“Hi,” she smiled brightly at them.

Geoff opened his mouth to say something but was cut off but Jack, “Don’t you ‘hi’ us Lana Russ! Three days! Three days you haven’t eaten a morsel.”

“You spoke with Jason”

“You need to take better care of yourself kiddo, your mom wouldn’t want you to waste away,” Geoff said softly.

“I thought of looking for you guys when I landed but I thought … Ryan,” suddenly she was wide awake and anger as tears poured from her eyes. “He’s alive and none of you reached out to me!”

“This isn’t a conversation for us, you need to talk to him about it,” Geoff said sternly.

“No, you don’t get to do that. I want answers.”

“And you will have them after we make sure you eat something.” Jack tried to hand the bag to her but stubborn Lana took the bag poured the contents on her lap and one by one unwrapped the burgers. Jack and Geoff sighed with relief until Lana lifted as many as she could and tossed them into the trash.

“I’m not hungry.” Lana stood, vertigo hitting her hard as she tried to balance. Jack was quick to force her to sit back down.

“You’re not getting anything until you eat something!” Geoff yelled.

“What’s going on in here?” Michael and Gavin entered the room.

“Lads!” Lana cheered and through herself I to the boys, Michael was able to catch her but her force knocked Gavin to the floor. “Oh god, I didn’t realize how much I missed everyone.”

“Fuck off with that mushy shit” Michael pushed her into Gavin’s embrace.

“Maybe you dickheads can get her to eat,” Jack suggested.

“You hungry?” Michael asked.

“That little cafe you used to love has a new menu, we could grab you something?” Gavin offered.

Lana’s stomach finally vocalized how hungry it was with a loud growl and the lads took that as an answer, heading off to pick up something. Geoff and Jack relaxed and decided since she had to wait for them to get back she could have answers now.

“We will go get Ryan, he needs to be the one,” Jack said sadly.

“I don’t …” fear squeezed at her heart. She wasn’t ready.

Jason shot her a fleeting smile as Ryan entered the room, she tried to smile back but then Jason was closing the door. Ryan didn’t sit, he leaned on the wall beside the door and shoved his hands in his pockets. Lana opened her mouth to speak but it rapidly dried up and she was forced to drink the bottle of water on the nightstand.

“Why?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, I’m trying to understand why you’d-” Lana wouldn’t look at him, her brows were furrowed as she recalled the week leading up to his ‘death’. She remembers them being happy, they’d just bought a house and were discussing the idea of children. “I thought we were happy.” her voice cracked and she finally met his gaze. Her emerald eyes melted into glossy tears, confusion, and brokenness have written across her face.

“I was done with you.”

His words were quiet but they rang in her ears, echoing in the small room. Her heartbeat loud and rapid in her ears as she fought to keep her breathing normal and maintain her heartbeat. He was lying, she could see it in his eyes but she knew him well enough to know if he wasn’t telling her the truth there was nothing she could do to make him.

“Then I guess this conversation wasn’t necessary.”

As Lana stood from the bed Ryan’s concern wanted to force her to lay back down but he remained silent as he watched her leave the room. She whispered something to her Fiance and then she was gone. Jason’s eyes turned to look at Ryan with accusatory eyes, the man who so far seemed to perfect to be real approached Ryan with anger in his eyes.

“What happened?” Jason asked.

“She didn’t like the answers to her questions.” Ryan shrugged.

“You lied to her?” Jeremy said in disbelief.

“After everything you’ve done to her, she deserves the truth,” Jason growled.

“Everything I’ve done to her? Her choices in life have resulted in whatever you are trying to blame on me.”

“So the man who comes every year on the anniversary of your death to torture her is her fault? The scars and burns and bruises are her fault! She has no skin left on her back and it's entirely your fault!” Jason roared.

“What man?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t know! Perhaps if you’d had an honest conversation with your ex-wife you’d know.” Jason snapped.

“Ew-wife? Ryan and Lana weren’t married.” Jeremy said confused, he turned to look at Ryan who wasn’t giving anything away.

“Lana and Ryan got married two weeks before he faked his death, they did it in secret. They were going to get out of whatever illegal activities you're all are involved with.” Jason snapped.

“You don’t know what we do?” Ryan said in amused disbelief.

“No, Lana refused to tell me any details and I won’t make her do anything.”

“You guys got married and you never told us?” Jeremy shook his head as he forced back on the topic.

“You can discuss that, I need to get back to Lana.” Jason headed towards the door but paused and turned around to look at them as if he’d been defeated. “Her mother's funeral is tomorrow, I know you were all friendly with her.”

He’d thrust an olive branch at them, it was up for them to take it. If he was being honest, he didn’t want any of them there especially not Ryan. The more time they spent around Lana the more likely he was to lose her but then, she and Ryan were legally married which meant he couldn’t marry Lana. He knew though, he knew from the moment Lana left the room after talking to Ryan that he wasn’t going to get the girl.

He wanted to sit by Lana’s side during the funeral but she’d secluded herself from all the other attendees. She sat alone at the front, the only living relative though many people had come today. Jason was sat near the back, so he saw when Geoff, Jack, Ryan, Jeremy, Michael, and Gavin took seats near the door. Jason watched Lana like a hawk while Ryan watched Jason. Lana’s gaze remained straight ahead, her expression was emotionless. She refused to let all these people see her cry. One by one people came by to offer their condolences until all that was left was the Fakes and Jason.

“Lana,” the voice was so soft, she almost didn’t recognize it as Michaels. It was her breaking point, now that everyone was gone she didn’t need to fight back the tears. She let out a short squeak and threw her head into Michael's’ chest letting the waterworks flow. Michael held her to his chest and Gavin joined in while the others just looked on.

“I don’t know how to help her,” Jason admitted to Jack and Geoff.

“Then you definitely don’t know enough about Lana,” Jeremy snorted. “She is probably the easiest woman to cheer up that I know.”

“Just make some hot chocolate, curl up on a cushy surface, and hold her. If it's raining even better.” Ryan said. Everyone turned to look at Ryan Jason with jealousy while everyone else looked at him with sympathy.

“Stay away from my fiance.” Jason snapped, angry tears glazing his sight.

“We aren’t trying to start any problem.” Jack’s tone was a warning.

Lana walked towards them, her arms around Michael and Gavin, their arms around her smiling. Michael winked towards Jeremy and Ryan as if he had some sort of devious plot.

“Jason, I’m going to go for a ride with Michael and Gavin. I will meet you at the reception hall in thirty minutes.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re the host-”

“We can handle the guests, they know us.” Jack cut Jason off.

Jason watched as Lana straddles a sketchy looking bike and Gavin got on behind her holding on to her waist. Michael jumped on his own bike and revved the engine. Jason started to step forward and stop her but Geoff grabbed his arm.

“Trust us, she will be fine and if you try and stop her all you will do is start a fight that could possibly ruin your relationship.”

Lana hadn’t been on a motorcycle in what felt like forever, she forgot how freeing it was. Driving down the highway at a hundred miles per hour, she rose her knees to handle the steering and threw her arms out wide. The wind whipped across her face, the heat from the sun warm again her skin. The ride was everything she needed.

“Alright love, time to get to the party,” Gavin whispered. Lana grabbed the handlebars again, a smile on her face as she relaxed back into reality.

“Gav, Ryan told me why he faked his death but I want your opinion on it.” She knew well enough if she was going to get the truth out of anyone a drunk Gavin was the best bet but since they were all sober her best bet was tricking a sober Gavin.

“None of us agree with his decision to go through with it but we get it. After you lost the baby and then the coma, he just wanted to protect you.”

Lana stopped the bike on the side of the road and hopped off.

“He fakes his death to protect me!” she roared at Gavin. At this point, Michael noticed his friends didn't follow him and headed back coming to stop. “That’s bullshit! We all know how this line of work goes!”

“What the fuck did you do Gavin!?” Michael snapped as he hopped off his bag.

“You all knew!” Lana punched Gavin’s chest and grabbed his phone from his pocket. She pocketed, hopped back on Gavin’s bike and took off before either of them could react.

She drove all the way to Mt. Chiliad, top speeds until she got there. She didn’t have a plan, well she didn’t know what she was going to say but she knew she needed to talk to him again. She texted Ryan from Gavin’s phone telling him to come to Mt. Chiliad and get him, told him Lana and Michael had stranded him. All she had to do was wait but waiting made her think and thinking made her hurt emotionally.

She recognized the gentle purr of Ryan’s Zentorno getting closer and closer. By the time he got out of the car to look for Gavin, she was a sobbing mess.

“You lied! You motherfucker!” she charged at him, punching blindly but he caught her wrists and pulled them towards his chest.

“What are you talking about?”

“Gavin told me why you faked your death!” she closed her eyes hard, so done mentally. “It wasn’t your choice to make.”

“Lana, breath,” he whispered softly into her ear, trying to calm her down.

“Nothing could hurt me more than what you did. I could handle the physical pain, the pain that came from being associated with the Fakes but your death … Ryan, it broke me.”

“I’m sorry Lana” he pulled her against his chest and spoke into her hair, holding tightly to her. “I’m so sorry.”

All his pent up regret and all her pain came exploding over, one minute they were clinging to each other and weeping and the next they were naked on the hood of his car. Working through their frustrations as they used to. When they’d finished she laid on his chest trying to get comfortable on the car.

“What am I going to do, Ry?”

“Well, we are going to get dressed, drive to the reception and go from there.”

“I meant, what am I going to do about us, about Jason?”

“Us? Lana, there is no us, your engaged.”

“It's a little hard to get married when you're already married.”

“The alias you married is dead, you're a legally a widow.”

“I can’t marry Jason now, knowing you're alive. After what we just did, regardless of if you turn me away or not, I can’t be with Jason anymore. Just seeing you made me realize I was trying to hard to force myself into loving him.”

“After we lost the baby …” Ryan started. Lana rolled onto her stomach and lifted up so she could look at his face, he was rarely open with his deeper emotions. “I thought our relationship was too fractured but it wasn’t, we were okay and then I just assumed our enemies had hurt us enough and would leave us alone.”

“I was just the receptionist at the building Ryan, I was rarely ever in any danger.”

“That didn’t stop them from putting you in a coma for three months. You have no idea how hard those months were for me.” his voice cracked as if he was reliving the pain.

“I’m sorry, Ry! Okay! But you can’t make decisions for me just like I can’t make them for you!”

“I couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt because of my life choices!”

“I signed up for that! I know who the Fakes were when I joined, I knew who you were when I entered this relationship!”

“We all wanted you out.”

“Do you love me?” Ryan opened his mouth to deflect or lie. “No more lies, Ryan. I want the truth for once please.”

“Yes.”

“Take me to the reception.”

“Lana, what is going on in your head?”

“I don’t know but I need to talk to Jason.”

All six men tried not to be too obvious as they watched Lana and Jason have a heated debate that ended with him stormed away and Lana looking … relieved.

“Well Ryan, it only took you twenty-four hours to win your wife back.” Jack laughed.

“You know we are going to kick your ass for not telling us about that right?” Michael teased.

“I haven’t done anything, besides I’m not going to take her back.”

“Liar.” Jeremy laughed as his point was made by Ryan staring at her ass in the slacks she was wearing.


End file.
